In the News

November 2, 2010 | In districts currently represented by a Blue Dog, nearly one-in-five of the Democratic candidates have been out-raised, have been out-spent or ended the last reporting period with less cash on hand than their Republican opponents, a Center for Responsive Politics review of campaign finance records shows.

September 30, 2010 | This fall, Republicans need a net gain of 39 seats to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Some of the seats most likely to flip from the Democratic column to Republican control stem from the retirements of sitting Democratic incumbents.
And when it comes to competing for these open seats, Republicans own a financial advantage.

May 28, 2010 | During the first quarter of 2010, only a handful of organizations reported lobbying on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding gays in the military, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of lobbying reports that explicitly mentioned this measure. Most of the groups identified by the Center supported a repeal of the policy.

March 22, 2010 | President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats achieved a major legislative victory last night as members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to adopt the version of health insurance reform legislation passed in December by the U.S. Senate. Supporters of both measures received out-sized support from labor unions, the Center for
Responsive Politics found, based on an examination of contributions to lawmakers'
campaign committees and leadership PACs going back to 1989.

February 24, 2010 | Whether it was health care reform, cap and trade climate proposals or financial regulatory reform, Blue Dog Democrats were often at the center of Congress' top legislative fights. This caucus of 54 moderate and conservative House Democrats was also at the center of political fund-raising in 2009, the Center for Responsive Politics has found.

January 26, 2010 | OBAMA MAY ADDRESS DADT IN SOTU: Senate Armed Forces Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) announced Monday that he would postpone a hearing slated for this week on the military's controversial "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy. News outlets are now reporting that Levin was asked to postpone the hearing until after President Obama's State of the Union address on Wednesday, so that Obama could weigh in on the subject.

October 21, 2009 | MCCAIN-FEINGOLD? ZZZZZZZ. We've been waiting for weeks for an outcome to Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which could very well change the nature of federal campaign finance laws as we know them. Nothing yet. But it's given us time to ponder why federal legislation always has such b-o-r-i-n-g names. (Shays-Meehan? Sounds like some sort of chronic thyroid condition.) Congress, let's get creative.

October 16, 2009 | An initial Center for Responsive Politics analysis has found that sitting members of the U.S. House of Representatives raised $48.2 million from July 1 through Sept. 30, 2009, based on the 336 reports we have in. The mean amount these lawmakers raised was $143,640, and the median amount was $126,680.

September 7, 2009 | At this juncture, it isn't entirely clear how ex-con James Traficant would fund a campaign if he makes a political comeback. But a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of Traficant's campaign finance reports indicates that unions, the real estate industry and lawyers/law firms most strongly supported Traficant during his 2000 run for Congress -- before the feds came knocking in earnest.

August 20, 2009 | The 52 fiscally conservative House Democrats known as the Blue Dogs and playing prominent roles in the nation's health care reform debate continue to collect campaign funds from health insurers at a greater rate than their non-Blue Dog counterparts, tCRP has found.

June 25, 2009 | There's a particular breed of lawmaker on Capitol Hill that is pushing hard against a public health care plan, much to the delight of two seriously moneyed special interest groups-insurers and pharmaceuticals. They're the Blue Dogs: moderate, vocal and funded in part by the industries trying to protect their bottom line.

June 25, 2009 | Here's a cool tool that brings together data from various parts of OpenSecrets.org to show how much money each current lawmaker has raised from various health-related industries and the health sector overall since 1989 (including President Obama's haul).

February 12, 2009 | The close ties between Rep. John Murtha and a Washington lobbying firm raided by the FBI have put the powerful Pennsylvania Democrat under greater scrutiny. The lobbyists at PMA Group have been Murtha's fifth most generous campaign donor over time, but he is just one of 284 members of the 111th Congress who have collected money from the firm, which specializes in securing federal earmarks for its clients. In total, PMA Group's employees and its political action committee have given current members of Congress $3.4 million since 1989.

September 23, 2008 | The last time Congress seriously debated how to regulate the financial industry, the result was legislation that allowed the nation's largest banks to get even larger and take risks that had been prohibited since the Great Depression. A look back at that debate, which was over the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act, reveals that campaign contributions may have influenced the votes of politicians who, a decade later, are now grappling with the implosion of the giant banks they helped to foster.

September 11, 2008 | When the federal government announced two months ago that it would be seizing mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, CRP looked at how much money members of Congress had collected since 1989 from the companies. On Sunday the government proceeded with the takeover and we've returned to our data to bring you the updates, this time providing a list of all 354 lawmakers who have gotten money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (in July we posted the top 25).

May 29, 2007 | Politicians set up so-called leadership PACs to raise even more money. But they don’t want you to know what they’re doing. __________________ Currently, a leadership political action committee, or leadership PAC, is not required to disclose the lawmaker with whom it is affiliated. North Carolina Rep. Walter B. Jones is hoping to shine more light…

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